Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development

Cellular therapies exhibit immense potential in treating complex diseases with sustained responses. The manufacture of cell therapies involves the purification and engineering of specific cells from a donor or patient to achieve a therapeutic response upon injection. Magnetic cell sorting targeting...

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Main Authors: Savannah Bshara-Corson, Andrew Burwell, Timothy Tiemann, Coleman Murray
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Magnetochemistry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2312-7481/10/11/81
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author Savannah Bshara-Corson
Andrew Burwell
Timothy Tiemann
Coleman Murray
author_facet Savannah Bshara-Corson
Andrew Burwell
Timothy Tiemann
Coleman Murray
author_sort Savannah Bshara-Corson
collection DOAJ
description Cellular therapies exhibit immense potential in treating complex diseases with sustained responses. The manufacture of cell therapies involves the purification and engineering of specific cells from a donor or patient to achieve a therapeutic response upon injection. Magnetic cell sorting targeting the presence or absence of surface markers is commonly used for upfront purification. However, emerging research shows that optimal therapeutic phenotypes are characterized not only by the presence or absence of specific antigens but also by antigen density. Unfortunately, current cell purification tools like magnetic or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) lack the resolution to differentiate populations based on antigen density while maintaining scalability. Utilizing a technique known as digital magnetic sorting (DMS), we demonstrate proof of concept for a scalable, magnetic-based approach to fractionate cell populations based on antigen density level. Targeting CD4 on human leukocytes, DMS demonstrated fractionation into CD4<sup>Hi</sup> T cells and CD4<sup>Low</sup> monocytes and neutrophils as quantified by flow cytometry and single-cell RNA seq. DMS also demonstrated high throughput processing at throughputs 3–10× faster than FACS. We believe DMS can be leveraged and scaled to enable antigen density-based sorting in cell therapy manufacturing, leading to the production of more potent and sustainable cellular therapies.
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series Magnetochemistry
spelling doaj-art-96e2bff3125c4fa89278c3d8ac2f18cd2024-11-26T18:11:14ZengMDPI AGMagnetochemistry2312-74812024-10-0110118110.3390/magnetochemistry10110081Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process DevelopmentSavannah Bshara-Corson0Andrew Burwell1Timothy Tiemann2Coleman Murray3Ferrologix, Inc., Valencia, CA 91354, USAFerrologix, Inc., Valencia, CA 91354, USAFerrologix, Inc., Valencia, CA 91354, USAFerrologix, Inc., Valencia, CA 91354, USACellular therapies exhibit immense potential in treating complex diseases with sustained responses. The manufacture of cell therapies involves the purification and engineering of specific cells from a donor or patient to achieve a therapeutic response upon injection. Magnetic cell sorting targeting the presence or absence of surface markers is commonly used for upfront purification. However, emerging research shows that optimal therapeutic phenotypes are characterized not only by the presence or absence of specific antigens but also by antigen density. Unfortunately, current cell purification tools like magnetic or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) lack the resolution to differentiate populations based on antigen density while maintaining scalability. Utilizing a technique known as digital magnetic sorting (DMS), we demonstrate proof of concept for a scalable, magnetic-based approach to fractionate cell populations based on antigen density level. Targeting CD4 on human leukocytes, DMS demonstrated fractionation into CD4<sup>Hi</sup> T cells and CD4<sup>Low</sup> monocytes and neutrophils as quantified by flow cytometry and single-cell RNA seq. DMS also demonstrated high throughput processing at throughputs 3–10× faster than FACS. We believe DMS can be leveraged and scaled to enable antigen density-based sorting in cell therapy manufacturing, leading to the production of more potent and sustainable cellular therapies.https://www.mdpi.com/2312-7481/10/11/81cell therapy manufacturingdigital magnetic sortingantigen density
spellingShingle Savannah Bshara-Corson
Andrew Burwell
Timothy Tiemann
Coleman Murray
Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
Magnetochemistry
cell therapy manufacturing
digital magnetic sorting
antigen density
title Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
title_full Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
title_fullStr Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
title_full_unstemmed Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
title_short Digital Magnetic Sorting for Fractionating Cell Populations with Variable Antigen Expression in Cell Therapy Process Development
title_sort digital magnetic sorting for fractionating cell populations with variable antigen expression in cell therapy process development
topic cell therapy manufacturing
digital magnetic sorting
antigen density
url https://www.mdpi.com/2312-7481/10/11/81
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AT timothytiemann digitalmagneticsortingforfractionatingcellpopulationswithvariableantigenexpressionincelltherapyprocessdevelopment
AT colemanmurray digitalmagneticsortingforfractionatingcellpopulationswithvariableantigenexpressionincelltherapyprocessdevelopment